John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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506. To ask the Minister for Health the reason there is no register of Alzheimer's patients here; and if there is a reason for the prevention of such a register being established. [15015/16]

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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507. To ask the Minister for Health to establish a national register of Alzheimer's sufferers; and to explain the absence of such a register. [15016/16]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 506 and 507 together.

The Irish National Dementia Strategy was launched in December 2014, with the objective of increasing awareness, ensuring timely diagnosis and intervention and developing enhanced community based services for people with dementia.

The Strategy is accompanied by a resourced implementation programme between the Department of Health, the HSE and the Atlantic Philanthropies totalling €27.5 million. The implementation programme includes the provision of dementia-specific intensive homecare packages, dementia-specific resources for GPs and primary care teams, and measures to raise public awareness, address stigma and promote the inclusion and involvement of people with dementia in society. The HSE has established a National Office for Dementia to coordinate the implementation of the Strategy.

The Strategy clearly distinguishes between actions that can be progressed within current resources and those which will require additional resources to implement. Section 8 of the Strategy, which is devoted to research and information systems , acknowledges the need for better evidence in relation to dementia, including, inter alia, improved estimates of prevalence across all care settings, diagnostic rates, sub-types and clinical outcomes for people with dementia. The following actions are outlined:

- The HSE will ensure that data from the Single Assessment Tool is factored into research to inform dementia care in Ireland;

- The HSE will take measures to ensure appropriate recording and coding of dementia in primary care and the development of practice-based dementia registers; and

- Hospitals will take measures to encourage better recording and coding of a primary or secondary diagnosis of dementia in hospital records and charts to ensure that admissions, re-admissions, lengths of stay and discharge for people with dementia are captured on HIPE (Hospital In-Patient Enquiry).

It is anticipated that actions in all of these areas together with the planned development of the Electronic Health Care Record will lead to better information on dementia patients in primary, secondary and long term care.